Donald Trump told a private meeting of donors that he once warned Vladimir Putin that he would ‘bomb the **** out of Moscow’ if he attacked Ukraine, an audio tape appears to reveal.
A recording of a gathering during a 2024 fundraiser seemingly shows the now-President stating that Russia would have never invaded Ukraine in 2022 had he been in office.
Apparently in reference to his first term, Trump said: ‘With Putin I said, “If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the **** out of Moscow. I’m telling you I have no choice.”‘
He then claimed Putin responded: ‘”I don’t believe you, no way”… and I said “way”.’
Later in the conversation, Trump can also be heard claiming that he issued a similar threat to China’s President Xi Jinping if he chose to invade Taiwan.
‘I said the same thing to them, I said “if you go into Taiwan I’m going to bomb the **** out of Beijing”.
‘He thought I was crazy. He said “Beijing! You can’t even bomb [inaudible].” I said, I have no choice. He believed me 10 per cent… and we never had a problem.’
The remarks have been uncovered in a series of audio tapes made while Trump was on the campaign trail at fundraisers in New York and Florida.
They were obtained by journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf, who shared audio of the conversation with CNN. Details of some of the exchanges have been published in their new book called 2024.
The White House was contacted for comment regarding the published audio and claims.
President Trump last night ripped into Putin, accusing him of ‘bull****’ in negotiations to end war with Ukraine.
‘We get a lot of bull**** thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,’ Trump told reporters during his Cabinet meeting.
The President, who has worked to improve relations with Moscow following Joe Biden’s term in office, expressed that his patience is wearing thin with the Russian leader.
‘He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,’ Trump said, complaining that it had been ‘tougher’ than he anticipated to bring about a ceasefire in the three-year war.
Trump has been pushing both sides to halt fighting, but while Ukraine agreed to an unconditional ceasefire back in March, Putin has continuously resisted.
Moscow has instead continued its daily barrages of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, with a record number of rockets and drones launched at Ukraine overnight.
The assault, which came just hours after Trump’s criticism of Putin, involved 728 drone strikes, mainly Iranian-designed Shaheds, seven cruise missiles, and six hypersonic missiles.
Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the efficacy of Ukraine’s air defences in limiting the damage dealt by the unprecedented attacks overnight.
‘Most of the targets were shot down. Our interceptor drones were used – there are dozens of hits, we are scaling up the technology,’ he said.
‘Mobile fire groups were also working – we also had dozens of hits. Thank you to all the soldiers for their accuracy.’
President Trump spoke with separately with Putin and President Zelensky last week.
Putin told Trump that Moscow will not give up on its goal of eliminating the ‘root causes’ of the war in Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.
That is code for the Kremlin’s argument that it was compelled to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in order to prevent the country from joining NATO and being used by the Western alliance as a launchpad to attack Russia – arguments rejected by Kyiv.
Trump, for his part, urged Putin to end the war but the Russian leader refused, according to the Wall Street Journal.
After the conversation, Trump said he had made ‘no progress’ with Putin on moving towards a ceasefire, adding that he was ‘not happy’ about the war in Ukraine.
‘I’m disappointed, frankly, that President Putin hasn’t stopped,’ Trump said Monday night.
Meanwhile, the president told Zelensky, in their private conversation, that he wants to help Ukraine with air defense because of the escalating Russian attacks, Axios reported.
On Monday, Trump announced plans to further increase US support for Ukraine, with plans to send 10 Patriot interceptors – anti-missile systems – to Kyiv.
‘We’re going to have to send more weapons – defensive weapons primarily,’ Trump said, adding that Ukraine was ‘getting hit very, very hard’ by Russia.
Meanwhile Trump’s reported comments on President Xi come as tensions between the US and China have sharply escalated due to a trade war between the two countries, started earlier this year when Trump announced steep tariffs on Beijing.
The two leaders held their first phone call of Trump’s second term last month against that backdrop, with both seeking to cast the call as successful.
Communist China sees self-governed Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be part of the country.
It has not ruled out the use of force to achieve this goal, and staged major military drills around the island in the Spring.
Many Taiwanese see themselves as part of a separate democracy, although most support maintaining the status quo where Taiwan neither declares independence from China nor unites with it.
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has vowed to ‘resist annexation or encroachment’, with the country long receiving backing from the US despite it being under no binding obligation to defend it.